Vengeance of the Serpent
by Nerys
Summary: In a world ruled by the Dark Lord, one would prefer to be a serpent over a Muggle-born. Characters: TMR/LV, HJG and a serpent. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A/N:** This story is unbeta'd.

_For Serpent-In-Red's Birthday. _

xxx

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**Vengeance of the Serpent**

Hermione had never run this fast in her life. She had to—there was a gigantic red serpent chasing her viciously.

_And __…_

_it …_

_wouldn't …_

_give__ …_

_up__._

She panted, halting at a small clearing in the Forbidden Forest and looking around desperately. Her arm was throbbing severely from where the damn creature had bitten her. She'd been able to stop the venom from proceeding onwards; but if she didn't catch a break and shook this pursuer off, she'd lose her arm permanently. She could still move it, but it needed some serious healing. Soon.

If only she'd kept running and hadn't tried to kill the serpent, she wouldn't be in this condition. The bloody beast was impervious to any kind of casting. It seemed the Dark Lord had learned his lesson from watching Nagini's death and had protected his new pet a hell of a lot better. Even the Killing Curse wouldn't do the trick.

Well, Hermione assumed it would … if only she'd been able to hit it.

After several green misfires, she realised there had to be some charm in play that stopped her from striking down the serpent. Having to come to that conclusion was now costing her. She waved her wand over her arm to dim the pain and cast another barrier behind her. Then, she whipped her wand to the right. Hairs, little patches of clothing and some skin cells attached to the false trail she laid out there before she swirled to her left and ran, ignoring the twigs and branches that cut into her skin and swooshing her wand behind her to cover her tracks as she went.

If only she'd been able to use Apparition, she'd be long gone.

However, nowadays, if you didn't have a Dark Mark, you'd be a fool to try. There was something in the air, something that caused the best of them to Splinch so badly that after a few demonstrations, nobody was foolish enough to make an attempt anymore.

A frightened shriek left her lips as she came to an abrupt stop when she was suddenly confronted with a deep ravine right in front of her feet. It had come out of nowhere. One moment she was running through a dense forest towards that patch of light in the distance, and the next, her body was balancing on the edge of a cliff.

Hermione finally caught herself and staggered back, leaning against a nearby tree, fully shaken.

_Heights_.

Nothing scared her more than that. She'd to overcome her fright of it in the past—she still recalled flying from Scotland to London on that damn invisible beast, which had been the longest trip of her life. It had raised her terror up so much more, despite being proud with herself that she'd done it. But it had been an absolute hell to do so.

So, it hadn't assisted her in overcoming her fears at all as many textbooks said it would. Instead, it had made her hate heights more than anything in the world.

A sudden rustling in the bushes froze her in place.

Well, heights _and snakes_ … now there was a difficult pick. She really, _really_ disliked snakes, too. Especially red ones, who tried to kill her, repeatedly.

Her head swivelled left and right. There was nowhere to go. She was surrounded by high rocky cliffs. There was only going back, towards that vicious animal, or forwards … into the ravine. Both choices held zero appeal to Hermione.

How had that damn snake found her again?

Hermione didn't understand. Nothing and nobody should be able to follow her with the spells she put in place. Yet, this red serpent did.

And it was doing so relentlessly, as if it had some score to settle.

Facing that snake again wasn't an option. It would kill her for sure, this time.

Merlin, where was Gryffindor's sword when _she_ needed it?

Taking a deep breath, she whisked her wand above her head. Branches and twigs flew through the air in front of her, creating a makeshift bridge. It didn't look steady or safe for that matter, but she tentatively began to cross it. It wobbled and swayed from side to side, creaking with every step she took. She held on tightly with both hands, despite the pain in her arm. Her heart was in her throat and her palms were turning sweaty. The ground in the depth moved in her vision. Realising she was looking down again, her head swivelled up, focusing on the surface in front of her: the end of her bridge. Where she would be safe.

_Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down_; she kept repeating it like a mantra, walking on as carefully as possible by testing the steadiness of the surface with every step.

If she made it to the other side before that red serpent caught up with her, she could vanquish the bridge while it was on it. That should be the end of it.

A viciously happy expression briefly flashed over her face as her imagination watched that damn beast plummet to its well-deserved death. However, that reminded her how far up she was and she yelped when she nearly tripped due to her brief lapse in concentration.

_Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down._

She was only halfway when she heard the hissing behind her.

_Already?_

Desperately, Hermione looked over her shoulder. There, it was. At the edge. Raising its body at her in an attack posture.

She wasn't going to make it to the end on time!

A stream of loud hissing exited the serpent's mouth before it slowly slithered onto the bridge, too.

_Merlin's pants! _

Hermione moved faster, no longer checking the security of the bridge and occasionally looking over her shoulder to see that serpent almost—

Was it smirking at her?

If she didn't know any better, she would've said it was taunting her now by going so slow. But this was just a snake, it moved on instinct. She was getting delusional. It had to be the unsteady bridge that slowed its progress. That wobbly contraption she'd created surely prevented her from running.

Again, she looked over her shoulder and shrieked in fear.

It was suddenly only a meter away!

She was out of time.

Her wand slashed through the air, cutting the bridge in half on both sides of the red serpent. As she held onto a branch desperately with her bad arm, she swung through the air, watching the bridge she cut plummet to the depths.

And only the bridge.

The red serpent hovered in mid-air!

_How—?_

Her head swivelled left and right when she spotted him, flying like smoke on the wind, a sadistic, mocking expression gleaming on his snakelike face. Those white spidery fingers caressed the wand in his hands before moving it downwards like a whip. She didn't even have time to conjure a shield before the branch she held onto broke, dropping her body into a free fall. Her high-pitched scream of absolute terror echoed through the ravine.

She flashed her hand to the side. It was empty.

_My wand! Where is my wand? _

Panic rushed through her. She was done for. There was no way to save herself. Not without her wand.

_I'm dead_, she resigned, tensing her muscles as the ground approached fast. It was solid rock. Hermione could already see all the details and cracks in its surface, realising soon it would be coated with her blood and mangled bones and flesh.

_There are different colours in that grey surface; why have I never noticed that before?_ she considered inconsequentially.

She wrapped her arms around her head and closed her eyes for the impact, just seeing a shimmer of dark mist form underneath her before everything turned black.

xxx

A fire crackled in the hearth, warming the temperature of the dungeon to impossible heights. It was the only light source there, and thus, cast many moving shadows on the barren walls. On the floor an unconscious female lay, her body sprawled in impossible angles whilst her bushy hair stuck to her pale-white face. The only indications that she was still alive were the shallow movements of her chest and the occasional whimpers that left her lips.

If the Mudblood were awake, she would do more than whimper, he knew.

Languorously, he shifted in the luxurious throne-like chair he'd conjured, leaning comfortably to his left. Wearing his pitch-black, silk robes, he was barely visible in that dimly lit chamber: a darkness cast in shadows. What stood out were those burning red eyes with slit pupils and the extreme whiteness of his skin—it added to the atmosphere of doom around him. Though, he had to admit that the Mudblood hardly ever was impressed. She just couldn't keep that filthy, disgusting mouth of hers shut.

His left hand propped contemplatively underneath his chin as he took in the scene before him. She surely was a right mess now. He couldn't wait for that moment when she'd wake and realise her ghastly situation. That was bound to be a marvellous experience.

For him.

His eyes glinted in sadistic pleasure.

The only reason she lived on was because she provided him with such amusing entertainment, far more so than any of the others had ever done.

A soft hissing noise drew his attention, and he looked at the red serpent coiled on the rug in front of the hearth. It had been warming its body, but now, his precious pet had woken and was gliding towards him. Soon, they could play some more … _games_ with the Mudblood.

'That was fun, wasn't it, Serp?' he hissed in Parseltongue as he stroked the snake's scales affectionately when it slithered up his chair.

The red serpent positioned itself around his shoulders, making hissing noises that sounded an awful lot like gleeful sniggering.

'Now … what shall we do to her next?' he asked in that smooth language, a phoney pondering expression on his inhuman face.

Serp had an idea or two.

And so it would come to pass.

Forever.

xxx

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**A/N**: Replies to anonymous reviews can be found on our Tomione forum. The link is on my profile.


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